Heroes—Unexpected

We open somewhere in the Nevada desert. Ted, aka Radioactive Man, is hanging out here, and somehow he's getting IMs without being logged in. Yet another character is introduced, as Hana Gitelman arrives on the scene. She has the ability to manipulate computers with her mind. Okay, this is the first superpower I've seen on this show that I really envy. Sending people IMs with my brain? That would be so freaking cool. And you'd never be more than a thinky thought away from Google. Anyway, Hana proposes that she and Ted team up to get revenge for what's been done to them. We discover Ted's presence kills grass. If this were Supernatural, that would mean he was a zombie, but I guess in this case it's because he's radioactive.

Elsewhere, Matt still has the diamonds and the title of the episode in his sock drawer. Mohinder has tried to call him. Things get tense between him and his wife when he tells her the truth about what happened with Malsky. In mid-confrontation, Matt gets a call and goes out.

The call was from Ted. Ted and Hana explain that she and others have been injected with a radioactive isotope being used to track them. Hana has traced the needles to Bennet's paper company. Ted wants to team up with Matt to find out what is going on.

At the Bennet household, things aren't going well. Thrown by her mom's memory loss, Claire tries to find her dad, but he's away on a business trip. Actually he's at Isaac's. Bennet gives Isaac a gun and tells him to take Peter out if he shows up. So now it's, "Shoot the guy with the floppy hair, save the world." Not quite as catchy as the cheerleader thing.

Claire's mom goes back to normal for a few minutes, but then passes out in the kitchen. In the hospital, the doctor diagnosis a subdural hemorrhage--basically a brain bruise--affecting her memory. Claire confronts her father, and Bennet (who has just returned from shooting at Peter with darts--see below) tries to justify his actions, saying that he just wants to protect his family. Claire isn't buying it--she's upset about what he's done to her and her mother. I have to side with Claire on this one. Repeatedly mind-wiping your family so they won't know what you're up to is never a good idea.

The Bennets come home. Claire is still angry with her father, not sure she'll even remember anything tomorrow. He may feel he needs to protect the family, but she does, too, except she feels she needs to protect them from him. Before any of this can be resolved, Ted and Matt arrive and confront the family at gunpoint. Yeah, that'll end well.

In the meantime, Mohinder and Sylar are in Bozeman, Montana to meet up with Dale, a woman from the list. Sylar has the sweet, bumbling, I just want to help vibe going bigtime. Dale has super hearing and isn't too receptive to our boys. Mohinder says they'll come back later. Lots of dramatic irony as Mohinder tells Sylar about all his plans and about how his father was killed by this horrible guy Sylar. Sylar just nods and acts innocent, then sneaks out later and kills Dale. This might have been a bad plan, though, because now Sylar has super hearing and Mohinder is blasting the radio. Could a super-hearing-induced migraine be Sylar's undoing? Let's hope, because Sylar needs to be undone.

Back in Vegas, Hiro demands to accompany Gustafson so he can find Ando. Their little road trip ends in a confrontation at a gas station. Ando is shot, but Hiro pulls him out of the line of fire. As they're hiding, Hope shoots at Hiro point blank, but Hiro is able to use his powers and makes the bullet go back into the gun. Hiro and Ando don't realize what happened because they had their eyes closed, and think the gun just misfired. Hiro tells Ando to go home. He thinks he's endangering Ando and he needs to pursue his destiny alone. Hiro heads for the bus, leaving Ando behind. Stan Lee is driving the bus, but makes no comment about all the characters on this show copping their powers from the X-Men.

On the roof of the Deveaux building, Claude continues to train Peter to use his multiple powers. Peter pops up with telekinesis, which he apparently grabbed from Sylar. If he grabbed that, did he grab everything else Sylar has absorbed, too? If so, he's got a nice little repertoire going. Bennet and the Haitian appear and shoot at them with darts, but Peter deflects the darts and flies away with an unconscious Claude. Claude is peeved when he wakes up and abandons Peter, saying his life is screwed up now because Isaac has betrayed them to Bennet and crew. Claude relates the way things went in his time, when folks would disappear and return marked and changed.

Simone tells Nathan it's time people knew the truth about the heroes' powers. Nathan doesn't think this is a great idea and warns her not to take it public.

Later, Isaac is painting. He's painted Peter in his apartment and oh, look--Peter's in his apartment. Peter accuses Isaac of betraying him, then attacks him, demanding to know what the marks mean. He sees the painting of Simone and says Isaac betrayed him out of jealousy. Peter is becoming stronger and stronger, gaining even more control of his powers. Isaac pulls the gun Bennet gave him and, trying to kill an invisible Peter, kills Simone instead.

I have to say I'm kind of glad they didn't kill off a major character. To me it seems too early in the show to off characters involved in the main plotlines. It bugged me on Lost when they started killing folks right off the bat, and it would have bugged me here, too. Not to say all shows should be structured to please me, but I don't think that killing off characters right when viewers are starting to get invested in them is a good way to stay in your audience's good graces. No, wait--all shows should be structured to please me. Because that would make me happy.

Next week--much like in last week's Lost trailer, we're being promised some big answers. Hopefully we'll get them.